I closed the gallery in 1999 and opened a home office mainly for lighting design. It lasted for three years when a gallery I did the lighting for in Sunset Beach, CA (the largest in the county) wanted me to take over as director temporarily. I don't know how long "temporarily" is -- am charging them as a consultant for the gallery. It could be construed as against the TOS to post a link to their site. You can E mail me if you are interested in seeing and they do have a lot of original paintings, original prints and commercial limited editions. I might end up opening another gallery in Laguna Beach one day.
Edited so can't be picked by spyders :
[email protected]
or PM me.
Just drop the "2" when entering the address.
Quote - Portal star
I think teachers should force students to do mostly observational paintings (except when they're in advanced.) The only things that can be taught with abstract/conceptual is composition and possibly color relationships. For a student to train their eyes and know how to manipulate paint, they must train observationally, no matter what kind of art they end up doing. Observational painting for an artist is like a dancer's stretching and warm up exercises. Train hard, so you have the capability of dancing however you want - whether you're rudulf N... Or Martha Grahm or a local jazz dancer.
i strongly agree with the necessity of observational work ++++ when a student as there is so much to learn that then feeds inot abstract work, making it deeper, more informed and more sustaining. Some is pleasant but shallow and quickly becomes boring.
I don't know about the 'only things to be taught from abstract' statement as there is a lot more - like for instance creating a mood with no representation to hang the idea on, using colour and gesture alone.
A lot can be learnt about composition from representation, with consideration of busy vs quiet areas, tone, the way that negative spaces work, the way the edges/corners of the painting work, ensuring that there are no areas that play no part in the overall image, the way the eye moves around the painting etc.
the analogy of warming up exercises for a dancer is good and a lot of work is purely about that - like scales in music. Beginners tend to think in terms of pictures and finishing a picture each time they pick up a piece of paper, instead of learning, practising and not worrying about producing a finished piece.
Not everyone is at a point in their career where its possible to find a gallery for representation. Not every artist's work is marketable or produced for a domestic space. Many galleries operate with a certain sales niche in mind which is exclusive.
I have had a website for 5 years. I find it as useful and necessary as a business card. Having a web presence has led directly to two very good commissions probably because my work is accessible and searchable with certain key words.
I say get your work and your name out there in both traditional and non-traditional venues........
I wonder what the most saleable paintings are right now? I imagine that the landscape is probably unsurpassed as having most universal appeal.
The landscape will never be supplanted as far as home and business decor (figurative has been number two for some years) but as I pointed out in another forum, the abstract is gaining ground. Could be the film "Pollock" among other factors that have excited the "general" art audience to look at abstracts in a different light -- exhibiting the act of painting as well as the providing a finished artwork. Still life is beginning to see some action in the commercial market -- the latest trend is photorealistic depictions of wine bottles!
Salability has to do a lot with demographics (New York, of course, still remains the showcase for anything avant garde).
wiz, around here the painterly cliche is three pears in a mildly contarsting background. If I see another painting of odd numbers of fruit ...
...or paintings of odd fruit?
Don't they have a tv show about that? So......anyway...a little off the subject, but who cares? LW et all, does someone need to have particular credentials to advertise themselves as an "art broker." I recently saw the title on someone's business card and happen to know that the person has no academic background in that field. This person does buy art, but it's from galleries in the area and that's it.
farmerman wrote:wiz, around here the painterly cliche is three pears in a mildly contarsting background. If I see another painting of odd numbers of fruit ...
Yes, we have a lot of active pear painters where I live. They sell, it makes good decoration. Pears look like womyns! It's deep because it makes you think of eating and sex at the same time.
side note: my grandmother had this horrible little print above her toilet that had a picture of a pear and read "This is no shape for a woman."
Yes, I suppose flowers and fruit are cliche, but
are also traditional "observational" exercises.
I painted very small landscapes (4 x 6) framed
them, and priced them under $100.00 at one
outdoor show. They sold like the proverbial
hotcakes. I found lengths of gold framing at a
garage sale. However, I prefer to paint people
whenever possible.
got any internet visible work, shepaints?
Yes I do, Portal. I will also post something on
the Original Art site as soon as I get my scanner
and computer (crashed from virus) up and running
again.....
Did you get my link by PM okay, shepaints?
no link in my pm box LW? Please resend.....SVP
By the way.....have you seen any
contemporary "light" scultptures that appeal to you ....using neon tubing etc?
Resent it by PM. Also saw your E mail at home but don't remember if I also sent it there.
Wonderful link LW.....thank you!
Oh, thanks -- as you can see it's fairly conventional
art (but highly salable in our demographic). We do have some abstract art but it's not on the site.
I must be honest with you, Light, that I personally would not purchace this work. It reminds me of the ARC school's work- pretty well trained technically, but not doing anything new or inventive, with (neoclassical-victorian-early impressionist) homogenity of style and subject (with some modern luxury subjects). However, the training/experience your artists have under their belt is impressive.
I can see how these would sell, especially to the older generation in orange county.
Now that I look at it again, some of these artists have more interesting work. It looks like they do both the more audience pleasing work and their own work.
The gallery seems to have an interesting variety of artists. Must be an exciting gallery to run.
I've become somewhat jaded with the commercial imagery. A lot of it is on the level of competant illustration and only a few of the artists transcend it stylistically. Eyvind Earle is well known because he designed Disney's "Sleeping Beauty" but only a few of his paintings look like paintings. The rest look like animation backgrounds -- he has a problem in not really working in a center of interest.
But within the scope of this discussion, it does give food for though for an artist. They do have to decide if their first priority is to become commercially viable. If they really want to assure themselves of making a living at it and they are talented, then it isn't that distant from Latrec producing posters of the Moulin Rouge.
In this case, however, there really is too much of it and it is unfathomable that there is still a good consumer market for the work. But there is.
Portal.....maybe I am jaded too, but I dont think
"new and inventive" is necessarily a selling feature......That is not all bad news....a lot of "new and inventive" shouldnt sell.....One of my artist mentors once told me great art should show....virtuosity and innovation....I say amen to that!
